Slide #1
Can you tell me about Judd Foundation?
The main point of the Foundation is to preserve my father's spaces: the spaces that have art in them, even artifacts or beautiful things. I was thinking about this today because I had this meeting to prepare for, and we were talking about my dad's work and other people's work, and the way that the artist experienced and understood their own work is the best environment for that. I think that sometimes we take the environment for granted. You have the white wall and that's all you need to see art, but there’s a whole coldness that comes from the institutions and even now galleries, they're extremely...cold, I guess, is a good way to put it. But the thing about Judd spaces is that with space and light there is a kind of place where there's harmony in the space and things have really been thought about, all these elements have really been thought about, and it makes a difference for your experience of art.
So you're working to preserve the space that art is originally created or kept in, or the space that the artist thought would be the best environment for the work?
Yeah, in a nutshell that's what we're doing.
What’s your role in the Foundation?
I am co-President with my brother, Flavin. We feel responsible for setting up a certain amount of leadership and vision for the next generation. There seems to be [a similar idea] within the Oral History Project and within my dad’s writing, too...my dad quotes this guy, I can’t remember right now who it was. But it’s this beautiful quote about how the most we can comprehend is the previous generation’s experience. So each time there’s a generation removed they have more trouble relating to that poem or that song because we’re getting further away from that cultural experience. It was just interesting that I didn’t know my dad had quoted this guy, and I didn’t know he [my dad] had an essay that related to this subject, because I feel very much like the Oral History Project is about this, but also, and it’s not just being sentimental, it’s also some sort of natural inclination for cultural preservation, trying to capture a previous generation before they’re gone. And I think my brother and I have a certain level of involvement because we feel like we get it, and we know why this Foundation was set up and we want to do our best to leave it in good shape.
How many spaces does Judd Foundation have?
15 in Marfa, and then 101 Spring Street [in NY.]
[101 Spring Street, photo via]